A Truly Dedicated Sensei
by Sneaky-fox
Summary: After Kakashi pawns Naruto off before the 3rd part of the chunnin exams, Ebisu finds he has the perfect student, someone who has all the potential to be great. Naruto then discovers what he can do with a committed sensei.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Nothing of 'Naruto' is mine, if it was I would be rich, but it's not so I'm not._

AN: This chapter is written from Naruto's point of view, but there will be different chapters written from Ebisu's point of view. Naruto is a little AU, but hopefully not too much.

**Chapter One**

Naruto POV:

Ugh I was so mad at Kakashi-sensei, and kinda hurt it I was honest. Yet again someone who didn't think I was worth their time. I mean I know I'm not the smartest ninja, or the most skilled and I can be pretty dumb, but I really thought Kakashi-sensei liked me more.

I really felt like I had been stabbed in the chest with a kunai when Kakashi-sensei said it, and I know I was ranting on loudly, I just felt a numb buzzing inside though. Sensei didn't even seem to care though, but I'd show him, I'd beat that Neji-bastard and then his precious Sasuke-bastard if it was the last thing I did. Dattebayo!

I quickly suppressed that last thought, along with the resentment I often felt for the majority of Konoha. I knew if I didn't I would have gone on a giant killing spree long ago, bet the fox would have loved that. Far too troublesome as Shikamaru would say, 'make ramen, not war' was my motto, or rather 'eat ramen' but it's all good.

I was making such a big deal of this, but kami this was unexpected. I had _trusted_ him. He just stood there leaning against the wall with his damn porn book and didn't even have the decency to look like he cared.

I wondered if it was because of the damn fox. You know what,fine, Kakashi-sensei could be like this, I'm not going to beg anymore. In the words of the whore who lives downstairs 'He can go fuck himself up his own arse 'til his dick came out one of his eye sockets.'

I'm a super awesome ninja, I don't need him. I can do this on my own. Dattebayo.

The stink of the antiseptics of the hospital was cloying, and I know I'll always associate them with Kakashi-sensei showing what a bastard he really was.

Huh closet-pervert. He did get beaten by my harem technique, probably weaker than me. He is a jounin though, and does seem willing to train me. He never liked me before though, one of those fox-haters. Maybe I'll just go along with this, for today anyway, and if he's useless then I'll just ditch him.

He led me to a training ground that was pretty far out of the way, it was nice and secluded though. Really a typical training ground, grassy and surrounded by tall trees, although there were four training pots with heavily scarred targets in them and a nice stream at the one end of the field. Sitting down first he gestured for me to join him.

'All right Naruto-san, sit down. First I would like to apologise for how I acted towards you previously. I was incorrect in my assessment of you. I would also like to thank you for helping the honourable-grandson, he began paying far more attention in his lessons since you talked to him.'

Honestly I was surprised, and I squinted up my face to let him see it, but he seemed to be telling the truth. Oh well, he had the day to prove himself to me. People change all the time, I mean Iruka-sensei used to give me nasty looks but now he's one of my most precious people. He did have the balls to apologise after all.

'Yeah alright closet-pervert. Clearly being around such a cool ninja, the great Uzumaki Naruto has shown you the light. You need to wear more orange though. Dattebayo.'

Orange is awesome. It is the most awesome-st colour in the history of colours.

'Ah thank you Naruto-san. I hope being your sensei for the next month shall at least make it up to you a little.'

He ignored my comment about orange! Oh well, he's not ready for the greatest colour of them all yet anyway.

'Sure, what cool jutsu are you going to teach me?'

Explosion-time...bet I could impress Sakura-chan with a really cool jutsu.

'Why don't you let me know what jutsu you know, then we'll spar and test your stealth and accuracy. Then I'll see what I need to teach you.'

'I know kage-bunshin, henge and kwarmi.'

'I see, Kakashi-san has thought you no other jutsu?'

He's just a lazy pervert.

'Well, how about a quick tai-jutsu match, then accuracy testing and finally a quick test on stealth test if we have time. Begin.'

Yeah he's fast, and dammit he's not really pulling his punches very much. I keep dodging and trying to deflect his punches and kicks but I am going to be bruised for the rest of the day. OW! FUCK-IT! I need my hands for important stuff, like holding chop-sticks. Well my ass was handed to me, at least my stealth rocks, my accuracy is pretty good too though. Soon it'll be better than Sasuke-teme's.

'Now, you have five seconds to hit the four targets on the training posts.'

I got them pretty close to the bulls eye. The closet pervert's face had gotten pretty blank. Oh well, no-one is as stealthy as me!

'Stealth now'

Bastard found me in a few moments! No-one, not even Iruka-sensei has ever found me that quickly.

'Oi, how did you find me so quickly?'

'I put you under a simple gen-jutsu when I told you to hide. It made you think you were hiding far deeper in the brush than you actually were. I know enough now. Your nin-jutsu repertoire is basic at best, you have absolutely no gen-jutsu or kin-jutsu.'

'My kage-bunshins are awesome! Dattebayo'

'Yes, but be that as it may, it is only one nin-jutsu. Now your accuracy is tolerable for a genin, and that you can improve on your own but your tai-jutsu is horrendous. You show good ability at thinking on your feet but cannot recognise a basic gen-jutsu. I have heard enough of your stealth abilities to believe they are above what is required for an entry-level chunnin.'

'Shut-up. I'm not that bad'

Yep, he's a bastard

'If you would let me finish? Yes you are that bad.' He put up his hand to stop interruptions 'I believe though you have a good deal of potential, and with time and hard work would have little difficulty achieving the chunnin rank.'

'YATTA! I rock. Dattebayo!'

No-one apart from Iruka-sensie or Hokage-jiji has ever said I have potential before.

'I do not know if we will have enough time to get you up to the appropriate standard before the third round of selections'

'I have to fight, that Neji-teme hurt Hinata-chan and I promise I would kick his ass. Dattebayo!'

He sighed at me and adjusted his weird little sun-glasses.

'Fine, but we are going to concentrate on the basics for a while. I know you will need some higher level abilities for the exams, but you will have to _earn_ them. I will not have you slacking off, do you understand?'

'I'll earn all your techniques by the time the next round comes along. Dattebayo'

'Hmm, we'll see. First a few rules. Every time you say 'dattebayo' you will do fifty push-ups. There will be no whining for jutsu-you will get them when I believe you've earned them. You will not be late and you will give me at least 110% everyday. You shall call me Ebisu-sensei and finally, the orange has to go.'

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!

'Never, not the orange. It's my trade-mark. I can't do that, that would be like Hokage-jiji not being old. Nuh-uh'

'I see. Perhaps you could earn the orange'

He had a really creepy glint in his eyes

'These are training weights' he said as he handed me what looked like black arm bands and leg warmers.

'They help increase speed and strength over time if used correctly'

'How can you use them incorrectly?'

'Too much weight added can tear and damage your body, sometimes permanently.'

'Ok, no damaging my body by adding too much weight-gotcha'

'Put them on and start running around the clearing. If you can keep going without stop until the sunsets, you can keep the orange'

'But it's so early!'

My beloved orange, I shall stay faithful and true

'I thought you were willing to earn the orange? No?'

Sneaky bastard. That grin is so smug. I'll show him.

'I won't fail, dattebayo!'

'First drop and give me fifty push-ups though'

He was actually serious! I couldn't believe it. At least I'm fit though, I mean I do run and exercise for hours everyday. I should be able to do this. The weights aren't so bad.

'Good. Now run'

I spoke too soon, these weights are hell.

'I said run, not walk. Faster'

Yep, bastard.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: Nothing of 'Naruto' is mine, if it was I would be rich, but it's not so I'm not._

**Chapter Two**

**Ebisu POV:**

Like most other of the older ninja in the village, I had never mixed Uzumaki Naruto up with the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Rather I disliked him for his foolishness and his trouble making ways. He never seemed to train; all he seemed to do was spend his time causing havoc wherever he went. Hokage-sama had favoured the boy and let him into the academy a year early, and he just never seemed to make an effort. He seemed loud and stupid, hardly a ninja in the making, he seemed to throw away the Hokage's patronage.

That changed when I heard him talking to my charge, the honourable grandson. He sounded so wise, and almost weary in a way, and I then realised that I had never known Uzumaki Naruto at all. None of us had. We were the fools, ninja are supposed to be perceptive but we had all taken the loud blond at face value. It was the look in his eyes though that really shook me; he looked far older than his meagre eleven years of age. By no means did he look like a war-hardened veteran; rather he looked like someone who had fought for everything he had ever gotten, fought hard and hung on to it with everything he had, although he was still loud and annoying.

I spent the next few days watching him, and even went so far as to read his academy records. Yes, at first glance he did seem a talentless slacker, but as I watched his interactions with his teachers and peers I realised it was the only way he had to fight back. His teachers didn't want to teach him? Fine, he didn't want to learn. His peers didn't want to socialise with him? He could have fun and pull pranks on his own.

When their backs were turned though, that's when I learned who the real Uzumaki Naruto was. He was extraordinarily stubborn and hard-working; he spent hours trying to learn what he had been thought in the academy. I recognised his type, he would never learn through books and lectures, he would learn through demonstrations and a little bit of one on one coaching- something no-one seemed willing to provide him with. The boy had so much damn potential it was sickening, to see it go to waste. A ninja really needed the drive to succeed, to keep going when times are tough, and Uzumaki Naruto had that in spades. He seemed to have the most minimal chakra control, atrocious tai-jutsu, little book learning and a host of bad habits, but my fingers itched to correct him when he trained, to give hints and show him what he was doing wrong, and then to stand back and watch him blossom.

There was one chunnin instructor though, an Umino Iruka, who did try to help the boy, but Naruto was long settled into his patterns of ignoring what people told him to do and trying to work everything out on his own. The instructor seemed to realise this but did not have the time to remedy this problem and seemed to have settled for providing emotional support for the boy, probably hoping his jounin instructor could help him.

I won't lie to myself; at first I resented the boy for fooling me. Me, an elite jounin, fooled by an eleven year old? And for how many years had I been fooled? He never seemed to do it consciously or maliciously, it was just his reaction to the awful circumstances he was stuck with. In fact, when I thought about it further, it was really us fooling ourselves. I suppose if you hear that some-one is a waste of space, from so many different people for so long, you begin to believe it yourself, even if you don't really trust the sources.

I never approached Naruto, as although he hid it quite well, he was so wary of almost everyone around him. Young children were no threat, so he let them in to a degree, hence his almost immediate acceptance of the honourable grandson, but he was so used to rejection by his peers and the adults around him that he had built an invisible barrier and seemed determined to succeed in life all alone through sheer bull-headedness and hard work.

Then I heard that he had failed the test, I already had a mission teaching the honourable grandson, but once I heard I spent a long time considering approaching the Hokage and asking for Naruto as an apprentice. I was even on my way when word came out that he had stolen the forbidden scroll, and I cursed the boy for his foolishness once more, I wanted to throttle him for throwing away his chances of ever being a ninja. I realised then that I had become fond of the ninja-in-training, I wanted him to succeed and to show everyone who he really was.

I felt a rush of pride when I learned of his successes against the traitorous ninja, so much so that I revealed what I had learned about the boy to friends and other ninja, something that many began to believe when they heard how quickly he had learned an A-rank jutsu.

Again I was pleased when I learned he had the famous Sharingan-Kakashi as his jounin instructor, surely he would flourish under the careful hand of such an accomplished ninja? Did not know the famous ninja personally having only exchanged pleasantries with him on occasion, but one of the reason he was famous for was for was for never leaving any of his team behind in his ANBU days. I was almost jealous that he had so much budding talent to teach, not just Naruto, but a highly intelligent konoichi and an Uchiha genius.

I am a competent jounin, but teaching is my passion. I thought at the academy for a while when I was a chunnin and found myself not very fond of it, but soon learned that teaching one-on-one was what I loved most and where I excelled.

And so, I stopped watching him, and once again dedicated most of my time to teaching the honourable grandson and missions. I was pleased to learn Naruto's team had been entered in the chunnin exams, and imagined the heights the three had gained under Hatake-san's tutelage. Then I learned to my surprise that Naruto had not showed great skills in the exams so far and wondered why.

When Hatake-san first entered the jounin lounge and asked if anyone was willing to tutor Naruto, I was almost frozen in shock for a millisecond. He was throwing away one of his students in favour of another just when he was needed most? I know I was not the only one astounded by this blatant preferential treatment for one student and disregard for another. Certainly Hatake-san went down in my estimation and I'm sure in others for this distasteful deed.

I think Hatake-san was surprised by the number of people who volunteered to teach Naruto, even more so by how vehemently I demanded the position as Naruto's sensei. If he could not see this rare opportunity to teach such a dedicated and talented student as the blessing it was, I was certainly not going to enlighten him, but rather snatch it up for myself.

The look in Naruto's eyes when he realised his sensei was abandoning him was heart-breaking, Hatake-san seemed a little ashamed at this, but resolute. Still the man was far too apathetic towards one of his students and I wondered who was training the third member of his team.

I could see Naruto was not particularly enthused about my training him, but that was to be expected. After all, another person who was supposed to train him had left him on the wayside. I knew this latest betrayal would make it that much harder to gain Naruto's trust, but I was determined to have Naruto as my student and to have him reach his full potential.

I took him to my favourite training grounds, they were a little out of the way and so were rarely used which was probably best as I felt with only a month we could afford the fewest possible interruptions.

I wanted to start off with Naruto on the best possible footing and so apologised but also tried to offer him some praise, something I saw he got little of.

"All right, Naruto-san, sit down. First, I would like to apologize for how I acted towards you previously. I was incorrect in my assessment of you. I would also like to thank you for helping the honourable-grandson; he began paying far more attention in his lessons since you talked to him." I told him, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

His reaction was sceptical, as I suspected it would be, but fortunately he told me he was willing to give me a chance, and I was elated. I was worried his treatment by Hatake-san would perhaps be the final straw, but I was not too late.

I winced as he once again said 'Dattebayo', Kami that has to be the most annoying phrase in the world. It has to go.

I paused to inspect the young ninja, I had not seen him up close for a few months but he had changed little. He was still quite small for his age and still wore that Kami-forsaken jumpsuit.

I was brought out of my observations by his loud voice. "Sure. What cool jutsu are you going to teach me?"

"Why don't you let me know what jutsus you know, then we'll spar and test your stealth and accuracy. After that, I'll see what I need to teach you," I replied, I had no idea what level he was at after a few months as a genin.

"I know kage-bunshin, henge and kwarami," he replied and my heart sank briefly. Perhaps Hatake-san had been concentrating on his tai-jutsu and other skills, they had certainly needed work.

"I see. Kakashi-san has taught you no other jutsu?" I asked on the very slim chance he had forgotten any.

I decided to test his level of improvement on what Hatake-san must have been focusing on

"Well, how about a quick tai-jutsu match, then accuracy testing and finally a quick test on stealth test if we have time. Begin,"

What the hell had Hatake been doing for the last few months? His tai-jutsu had barely improved, and his accuracy had not improved at all, it had gotten worse if anything. As for his gen-jutsu skills, this was potentially deadly in the field, he could not recognise he was under a very basic gen-jutsu.

This had to be addressed immediately, and I had it in my mind to inform Hokage-sama of Hatake-sans negligence. Naruto was the kind of person to improve rapidly with any kind of help, had the jounin thought Naruto at all or had he spent all his time with his other two students? I was furious and struggled to hide it. It seemed Hatake-san had failed Naruto far worse than I had originally thought.

I did not want to discourage the boy, but he had to know what level he was at. "I put you under a simple gen-jutsu when I told you to hide. It made you think you were hiding far deeper in the brush than you actually were. I know enough now. Your nin-jutsu repertoire is basic at best, you have absolutely no gen-jutsu or kin-jutsu,"

His response was immediately defensive. "My kage-bunshins are awesome! Dattebayo!"

He was right, he was able to create vast numbers of kage-bunshins, an extremely useful skill but they were almost useless other than as use as cannon-fodder. I could not let him become over-confident and think they were all he needed, at this level they were next to useless against a skilled ninja.

"Yes, but be that as it may, it is only one nin-jutsu. Now your accuracy is tolerable for a genin, and that you can improve on your own but your tai-jutsu is horrendous. You show good ability at thinking on your feet but cannot recognise a basic gen-jutsu. I have heard enough of your stealth abilities to believe they are above what is required for an entry-level chunnin,"

"Shut-up. I'm not that bad." He loudly shouted at me

"If you would let me finish? Yes, you are that bad." I put up my hand and he opened his mouth to stop him from interrupting, "I believe though you have a good deal of potential, and with time and hard work would have little difficulty achieving the chunnin rank."

"YATTA! I rock. Dattebayo!" His face lit up, and I wondered how many people had encouraged him before. Obviously not many if that was his reaction to such a small amount of praise.

There was so much to do and I did not think he would be at chunnin level in a month, certainly not up to the standard of the Hyuuga prodigy and I let him know

"I have to fight, that Neji-teme hurt Hinata-chan and I promise I would kick his ass. Dattebayo!" His reply was somewhat expected, defiant to the end.

I knew that I could get him to a standard at which he would not embarrass himself like he would if he fought the Hyuuga now. At this level the match would be over within seconds and such a defeat would discourage the blond to no end. That was something I could not and would not allow.

"Fine, but we are going to concentrate on the basics for a while. I know you will need some higher level abilities for the exams, but you will have to _earn_ them. I will not have you slacking off, do you understand?" I said in one of my most severe tones. I knew setting him a challenge would help him improve quicker, not that he needed much encouragement.

"I'll earn all your techniques by the time the next round comes along. Dattebayo!"

"Hmm, we'll see. First a few rules; Every time you say 'dattebayo' you will do fifty push-ups. There will be no whining for jutsu-you will get them when I believe you've earned them. You will not be late and you will give me at least 110% everyday. You shall call me Ebisu-sensei and finally, the orange has to go."

I believed I would go mad if I had to hear 'Dattebayo' at the end of every sentence and that ridiculous jumpsuit would have to go. My student is a reflection of myself and I could not let him continue to wear such a monstrosity, I would be laughed at by every other ninja. Nobody would laugh at Hatake-san, the man was simultaneously apathetic, completely shameless and fearless. He read porn in public and ignored the wrath of angry kunoichi everyday, I could think of few things that would upset him; his student's appearance was not one of them.

Naruto's reaction to the potential loss of the orange outfit was quite extreme and typically rude. Suddenly I realised that I could use his vehement protection of his hideous outfit to my advantage. It really was a win-win situation. If he could not run all day the orange was gone, if he could his fitness levels and stubbornness were far better than I anticipated.

As I watched him almost stagger with great determination around the clearing, the weights clearly just below his limit I smiled to myself.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: Nothing of 'Naruto' is mine, if it was I would be rich, but it's not so I'm not._

**Chapter Three**

**Naruto POV:**

Ugh, when I woke on my second day of training I was sore all over and it took me a while to realise why. Ebisu-sensei had made me run so much and I had finished studying so late last night and was up so early this morning that the fox hadn't had enough time to heal me completely yet. This has never happened to me before, I never feel sore for long after training. Even my fingers hurt, the closet-pervert had me doing random hand-signs as I ran all frickin' day yesterday. He would even throw kunai at me and I had to dodge- I swear he's just trying to get revenge for my awesome harem jutsu. He had that stupid smug smile on his face when he was handing me the evil scroll after I finished running yesterday.

I suppose he's not that bad, I mean I've never had some-one spend so long just training me. Iruka-sensei never really had time and Kakashi-sensei is just a stupid lazy teme-loving bastard.

I don't think Ebisu-sensei meant for me to be up so late, but he had given me a scroll to read on chakra, but it was written in kanji. I hate reading, it's so boring, an awesome ninja like me doesn't need to spend hours stuck inside reading crummy old scrolls, but Ebisu-sensei told me a ninja has to be smart and well-learned, especially a hokage. I suppose that makes sense, Jiji is always doing paper-work whenever I visit him. I remember telling Jiji that when I'm hokage I won't do any paperwork. I've never seen him laugh so much. Ever.

Stupid scroll. Stupid kanji. Stupid fox. It's not even bloody-well dawn yet!

I bet Sasuke-teme doesn't have to read boring scrolls, I bet he's learning cool jutsu that'll make people explode or something.

The closet-pervert is better than no-one I suppose, he did buy me ramen after all. I was too tired to eat much though, my arms were shaking so much it took ages to finish even one bowl. I bet he planned that too. He told me he likes ramen too and did eat some, so I guess he's not so bad. No-one who likes ramen is evil, everyone knows that. I don't understand why he hates orange so much, he was glaring at me yesterday and I thought he was really mad at me, but I realised it was really my jacket he was glaring at, I think he was trying to burn it with his eyes when I took it off yesterday. Hmm, must protect the almighty orange, it must be hidden and kept safe. Yes, no-one shall hurt my brilliantly fashionable orange clothes, Ino and Sakura-chan keep going on about how fashionable they are, but they don't wear any orange at all- shows what they know!

I glanced at my frog clock-damn I'm going to be late if I don't run, the training field is really far away. I scowled as I realised I had not been able to run until the sun set and hadn't _earned_ the right to wear orange today, then I realised that it would be safer in my wardrobe. No accidental fire-jutsu was going to damage my endangered, and extremely awesome jumpsuit. I have other training clothes that aren't orange, Hokage-jiji keeps giving them to me, and Iruka-sensei bought me an outfit as a reward for graduating. I suppose they'll have to do. Navy is _so_ boring though. I'll show Ebisu-sensei, I'll beat whatever stupid challenge he has today and I'll be back to wearing orange tomorrow. Dattebayo!

I was so glad I had had a shower before I went to bed, it's probably 'cos of the stupid demon but I apparently have a really good sense of smell. The closet pervert's face was really funny when I broke one of his gen-jutsu yesterday 'cos I smelled him. He told me to focus on my sense of smell to help me detect if I was in a gen-jutsu, apparently most beginners forget about that sense and I shouldn't have to worry about higher level gen-jutsu til after the exam. I never realised I could smell better than everyone else, I suppose the fuzz-ball inside is good for something. I wonder if I can smell as well as dog-boy?

Hah, the closet-pervert's face was really weird when he saw me in my new outfit.

"Oi, I know you're a pervert and all, but I'm a kid so stop looking at me like that"

His eyebrow twitched, but then sighed "I see manners and observation skills are two of the things we shall have to work on"

"I have manners. Dattebayo!"

"Drop and give me fifty" he smirked

"Dammit." Say dattebayo in the head, not outside. Stupid arms, still sore from yesterday.

I did the fifty push-ups and rubbed my arms when I was finished

"You look tired, what time did you go to bed at? It shouldn't have taken you too long to study the scroll I gave you, maybe 45 minutes at most" he had the same look on his face Iruka-sensei had when I had stomped out of the academy after failing the third time.

"I don't know why I had to read the stupid scroll anyway. I can control my chakra. Kakashi-sensei thought us how to climb trees with our feet and everything"

"That's only a very basic method to control your chakra. The scroll mentioned a few others, water walking, sand walking, snow walking etc." he replied

Yeah well, maybe I got tired after three hours trying to figure out the scroll. I know lots of kanji, and I can kindof guess the rest, and I did read most of the scroll, just not the last bit.

"Naruto, did you finish the scroll?"

"Well, maybe. I mean I tried."

"How long did you spend reading it?"

"Like three hours, but then I was really tired and there was only a bit left so I went to bed. I hate reading."

He paused for a moment "Ok, I see. That's not a problem, you just need to work on your reading a little, perhaps someone could help you in the evenings after training?"

"I'll ask Iruka-sensei, I know he'll say yes" I replied. I know if I ask Iruka-sensei he'll definitely help me, he's always trying to get me to read more.

I'm glad Sasuke-teme or Sakura-chan weren't around, it's kindof embarrassing other people knowing how dumb I am. I bet they'd both laugh at me, well Sakura-chan is really nice so she wouldn't, but the teme definitely would. It's weird though, Ebisu-sensei didn't make it a big deal, I appreciated that. He definitely gained some points for that.

Instead of doing finger signs as I ran he made me do some odd twisty things with string, apparently it improved my finger's speed and 'dexterity', a word I made a mental note of to ask Iruka-sensei what it meant later.

He still made me jump and dodge kunai, something I'm really good at. The villagers used to always throw stones and rotten food and stuff at me, but they hadn't done that for a while for some reason.

"Naruto-san, have you ever realised that your kage-bunshin remember whatever it is they were doing before they dispel?" Ebisu-sensei asked as he released me from a gen-jutsu.

I never really thought about it, I've only ever used them in a fight, but now that I do I vaguely remember seeing fights from different angles. Kami I can be an idiot sometimes, but this is awesome, I can make one while I'm still in bed and it can bring me ramen in bed.

"YATTA!"

"I don't want to know" Ebisu-sensei muttered after a brief pause

Wait a second, this means I can totally increase my training time by a around a gazillion. I. Am. Awesome.

"Why didn't you say that before? I can totally do months of training before the finals."

"Not so fast Naruto-san. They are best used for practising something you already know. They cannot be used to improve your tai-jutsu or increase the speed of your hand seals as you need to do that on your own to increase your muscle memory, but they can be used for improving on a chakra-based skill you already have and on your book learning. Something you are sorely lacking." Ebisu-sensei said

"Heh!"

"You know it is true Naruto-san, but again it is something that can be remedied. You must be very careful though, that you do not dispel too many clones within too short of a time period as it can cause permanent brain damage. Furthermore, the longer the life-span of a clone, the more it has learned, so again your brain may have problems assimilating the new knowledge."

Further note to self, learn what 'assimilate' means.

"So how many should I make then Ebisu-sensei?" I asked

"How many can you make?"

"Uh, I dunno, a couple hundred I guess"

He looked shocked. The amazing Uzumaki Naruto astonishes another!

"I see...twenty should be fine for now."

"Done." Twenty of me stood in the clearing looking incredibly boring in navy.

"Good. I want all those clones to work on their tree-climbing. I know you have learned it, but you have not mastered it. In the meantime I shall be teaching you water-walking."

It was weird, my clones couldn't seem to climb the trees at all, then I remembered the stupid snake-weirdo who had done something to the seal locking Kyuubi in. Shit! What if it meant he could escape? This is bad, very very demon eating your soul bad. I can't die this young-there are so many ramen flavours I have yet to try out!

"Ebisu-sensei, in the forest of death there was this snake-weirdo, Orochimarti or Orochimoomoo or something, and he hit me on the stomach and I think it might have done something to my chakra."

Ebisu-sensei paled a little. "I see. Thank you for telling me this Naruro-san. We shall bring this problem to Hokage-sama immediately. Come."

Damn the closet-pervert is fast, bet it's from running away from angry women he's peeped on. Anyway, I could barely keep up and I knew he was going slowly for me. I was getting tired by the time we reached the Hokage's office, those stairs are just cruel when you're wearing weights.

Ebisu-sensei entered first after muttering something to the ninja guarding the doors.

"Hokage-sama." he bowed

"Yo Jiji!"

I could see Ebisu-sensei wince out of the corner of my eye, heh he's so stuck-up sometimes.

"Aah, Ebisu and Naruto, what brings you here?"

"Naruto-san just informed me that Orochimaru did something that has affected his chakra and he is worried it my have affected his seal aswell"

Jiji instantly straightened up and put down his pipe.

"Naruto come here, lift up your shirt and channel some chakra," Hokage-jiji said standing up and coming around his desk.

"Sure." I peered down at the seal and instantly spotted that it was different. I had noticed the seal when I was a child, but had never received a reply as to what it was from Jiji and so had almost forgotten about it until I learned it contains the Kyuubi. I had again become fascinated with it and spent hours studying it and occasionally poking it. Finally I had realised there was nothing I could do to it and had almost forgotten about it again.

"Aah I see, a five point seal. Orochimaru was never particularly interested in seals, which is lucky for us in this situation." He muttered

"This will hurt a little" the old man said as he knelt down in front of me.

He rammed his fingers into my stomach. Hurt a little? Fucking hell! It felt just as bad as when I got it, it felt like someone was stabbing me with five kunai in the stomach. When I find that weirdo transvestite who insists on touching other people's demon containing seals inappropriately I'll skin him and his stupid giant snakes too. Fucking teme!

"Well, I must ask you not to try to find Orochimaru to skin him. He is one of the sannin and a rather powerful individual and I would be most upset were anything to happen to you." Jiji looked sad all of a sudden.

"Fine, I won't try to find the transvestite-paedophile, but you owe me ramen."

"Agreed." Hokage-jiji chuckled.

"And how is your training going Naruto?"

"Ebisu-sensei is ok I suppose. I haven't learnt any cool jutsu yet, but I'll totally impress you in the finals!" I said

"I'm sure you will Naruto, you are rather good at surprising people after all," and he smiled at me

"Come, Naruto-san. We have only a little time and a lot to do. Thank you Hokage-sama" Ebisu-sensei bowed.

"Thanks Jiji. Let me know when You're free to get ramen!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: Nothing of 'Naruto' is mine, if it was I would be rich, but it's not so I'm not._

**AN**: Thank you to all my reviewers, I do try to respond to each individually but obviously can't if the reviews are anonymous (no matter how awesome they are), so if you want a reply in future let me click the little respond button on the review!

Replies to anonymous reviewers are at the end of this chapter, as I hate ridiculously long author notes at the beginning. Enjoy!

**Chapter Four**

**Ebisu POV:**

I waited in the pre-dawn light for my new student, idly wondering if he had anything in his wardrobe that was not kill-me orange.

I was so surprised to see Naruto dressed all in navy, he actually looked like a competent ninja.

"Oi, I know you're a pervert and all, but I'm a kid so stop looking at me like that"

"I see manners and observation skills are two of the things we shall have to work on."

"I have manners. Dattebayo!"

Hehehe, call me a pedophile will you?

"Drop and give me fifty"

Revenge is mine

"Dammit."

Ah the sweet sound of retribution.

I observed his shaking arms, he looked far more tired than he should have after only a few push ups. I wondered perhaps if I pushing too hard.

"I don't know why I had to read the stupid scroll anyway. I can control my chakra. Kakashi-sensei thought us how to climb trees with our feet and everything"

Every time I hear what Hatake-san has thought Naruto-san, or rather how much he has neglected to teach him I feel so angry and disappointed in myself, I should have asked Hokage-sama for Naruto-san as an apprentice. I can only reassure myself with the knowledge that I have him now, and I will help him become great.

Kami when I heard that a twelve year old boy could barely read I actually felt a good deal of anger at the academy teachers. How could a teacher bring themselves to sabotage a student's learning so severely? They even seem to have destroyed any love the boy may have had for reading.

I could see the almost ashamed look on his face, like he was waiting for me to laugh at him or call him stupid. I sighed in my head, I really did not have the time to teach him to read, train him to a competent level for the chunnin exam finals, and also complete my duties, few though they may be due to the interference of the Hokage. I am not technically Naruto-san's sensei, Hatake-san still is, so get neither a stipend as a jounin-sensei nor am I relieved of my duties. I am still expected to complete missions, luckily though Hokage-sama greatly favours Naruto-san so my duties are few and quickly completed.

Still, I am surprised by how secretive Naruto-san is, not even Iruka-san, one whom he is very close to is aware of his reading difficulties. I am sure the man would do almost anything for Naruto, someone he considers his younger brother.

I think I nearly had a heart attack when he told me about Orochimaru placing a seal over the Kyuubi-containing seal. This was something that must be remedied immediately, I may know little about seals, but I know Orochimaru would not do anything to help Naruto-san.

Racing to the Hokage tower I felt shame deep in the pit of my stomach, how could I, who claims to be such a great teacher, not notice something so off about my student? What if he had not told me and the seal had broken? Or if the damage were irreversible as I had not found out until too late?

I could feel Naruto-san struggling to keep up as we made our way to the tower, and so slowed down. He seemed to be adjusting to the weights extremely quickly, almost unnaturally so and I wondered how soon I would have to increase the amount.

The relief I felt when Hokage-sama quickly and easily removed the seal made me almost weak for a moment, before I realised that Naruto really should have realised something was off with his chakra before we tried the chakra training exercises today. His observational skills were rather pathetic, how he managed this with his acute senses is quite beyond me.

His enhanced senses are a boon, all five senses were many fold than that of a regular non-clan person. Perhaps he barely used his senses as he was so fixed on ignoring the way people around him looked at him, and what they said about him, that he blocked out most of the world around him? Hmm, training to use his enhanced senses would have to be a must, a ninja who notices everything going on around him will live longer.

Oh yes, I know what I must do to improve them, but are they more important than his chakra control lessons? No, I can probably do both at the same time and continue to teach Naruto-san to multi-task.

I ran slightly faster from the tower than I had too it, and Naruto-san obliged me by stubbornly trying to keep up, though he was struggling with the weights.

Hmm, when we get to the training grounds I shall get his clones to perfect the tree climbing. At his rate of progress and using ten clones he should perfect it by the end of the day. We shall have to finish a little early today, Naruto-san must have his reading capabilities brought up to scratch as soon as possible. Perhaps I can get him to send a clone to ask Iruka-san about helping Naruto-san in the evening.

Time is really against us, we have only less than a month to bring Naruto up to at least low chunnin or high genin standard, something that seems a more daunting task with everything I learn about the boy, though I can hardly place the blame at his feet. I can never seem to judge the boy correctly, either he performs far above standard or far below it, and when he performs below standard it hardly seems to be his fault, it is the fault of those purposely sabotaging his education.

The more I learn about Naruto-san, the more I see how neglected he has been, and the more I feel ashamed of my fellow ninja-instructors.

I do not want to push his education so quickly he picks up bad habits, or becomes sloppy, I want to ensure Naruto-san has a good base to work from before he learns higher level techniques. I can tell I will have great difficulty keeping him focused on training he deems boring or useless and we can hardly spare the time for complaints.

He is such a difficult student, yet one with so much promise, and I can just feel myself get excited over the challenge facing me. I know it may be unworthy and perhaps beneath a shinobi of my calibre, but more and more as I see how he has been neglected and mistreated, I want him to succeed not only for himself, but also so he can show his former instructors their inadequacies, to show them what they missed or just outright threw away.

Naruto-san caught up to me in good time, and I decided to set twenty of his clones to perfect their tree climbing while I taught the original water walking. I would have liked to set a few to reading scrolls while they were practising, but I did not want to rub in his current failings. He is the type of student that thrives on sparse and well earned encouragement, but becomes disheartened and defiantly obstinate if discouraged too much. At this moment I feel our relationship is still too tentative, it is obvious Naruto-san doesn't trust me and I don't want to push him, at least not until I am sure he will not pull back completely and disregard my attempts at teaching him.

I briefly contemplated teaching Naruto-san water walking, but realised it would come to him much easier after he has perfected tree climbing, so decided his tai-jutsu was the one to work on at the moment.

We spent the rest of the morning on his deplorable tai-jutsu, and I must say that I am impressed by his potential as a kinesthetic learner. Perhaps it was not just the academy instructors holding him back intentionally. We just do not have time to bring him to a decent level in a tai-jutsu form more suited for his frame and mind-set. He knows the basics of the academy taught style, though in a bastardised, clumsy way, it appears he leant the style through watching others perform it, but had no help on correcting his form at all. I just plan to improve it to as high a level as I can in the month allotted to us, I can worry about choosing a style fitting for Naruto-san after the chunnin exams.

I left him to drag himself away to the academy for lunch with Iruka-san, though I did shadow him most of the way there. While he has never been attacked outright, he has had projectiles like bottles thrown at him by civilians, something I noticed he easily avoided, but in his exhausted state he would have far greater difficulties with dodging them.

Once he reached the academy and the protection of Iruka-san, I returned to the training grounds with instructions for his clones to disperse themselves every five minutes and sat to enjoy my lunch in the quiet, much lacking when Naruto-san cursed and shouted through his way through the morning of instruction.

He returned from his lunch slightly rejuvenated, though not up to his usual hyper bouncing-off-the-walls state, his regenerative abilities are truly astounding and something I plan to take full advantage of in the coming month.

After a morning of going slowly through katas, I want to see how much he has managed to integrate into his tai-jutsu, and how quickly he will revert back to his sloppy, almost brawling style.

Once again he blows my expectations right out of the water, it took my placing far more pressure on him than I originally thought it would for him to fall back into his old habits.

When I noticed him trembling with fatigue, I decided it was time to move on to something different. He seemed very reluctant to break from training, as if he felt the minute we paused I would finish training him for good. Seeing this, I decided to fix up his hand-seals. They were one area I could find little fault with other than the speed at which ran through them. He formed each very carefully, but a little too slowly, or some at different speeds to others. With so few jutsu's in his arsenal, and those at such a basic level requiring few hand seals, there were many he rarely performed at all.

When he had recovered sufficiently, I decided it was time to improve his dodging skills and abilities with kwarimi. His has a good deal of skill with the henge, I could feel myself blushing mentally as I remembered that thrice damned harem-jutsu, and could form kage-bunshins with ridiculous ease

"Kwarimi is a basic jutsu, but one of the most useful. In fact it is probably one of the jutsu you will use most frequently in your life as a ninja. It requires little chakra, little concentration, and can be performed with almost no preparation. Furthermore, it is necessary to be able to perform kwarimi to a very high level before you can learn the shushin jutsu."

Every young ninja wants to be able to perform shushin, and I could see the stars in the eyes of my young pupil at the very thought of the overly flashy, but entirely useless in battle jutsu.

"Nee nee Ebisu-sensei, will you teach me shushin?"

He was practically bouncing. Where he got the energy from suddenly I will never know.

"No. You need to learn jutsu that can help you in a fight and shushin cannot help you there. Do you know why?" I asked, trying to encourage him to think.

He wrinkled his brow and pouted his lips in thought.

"No" he said tentively after a long pause, watching me carefully for my response.

I just nodded my head, it was obvious he was testing me, though consciously or unconsciously I did not know.

"The exact location someone using a shushin will arrive at can easily be sensed by someone of a chunnin standard." I paused and nodded at him to encourage him fill in the rest.

After another long pause he replied. "So, if you dodge with a shushin, someone could just throw a kunai and it would hit you the moment you stopped?"

"Indeed, furthermore the shushin uses far more chakra that a kwarimi and in a battle you must try to use as little chakra as possible. This is because you do not know how long the battle will take place, or if there are other enemies hidden around you that may also have to fight subsequently."

"But isn't shushin just a really big kwarimi?"

I was pleased he was asking questions, but knew he would not understand a detailed explanation. I had to keep it simple enough for him to understand, but not too simple so as to insult him.

"Yes and no. We do not have the time to go into great detail on the physics of the respective jutsu, but basically with kwarimi, as you know, you are essentially replacing yourself with something physically close to you by extending a string of chakra to that object, attaching it, and then switching your positions. With shushin on the other hand, as with most higher level jutsu, you are doing a combination of many basic techniques. In this case attaching a string of chakra to an air pocket the exact size of your body and replacing yourself with it is only one aspect.

"Now, this exercise is to improve both your ability to dodge and you speed with the kwarimi jutsu. I am going to throw blunted kunai at you. You may not move your feet, or any part of your lower body, nor may you deflect the kunai. You can only dodge by moving your upper body or by using shushin."

I could see the look of resolve growing on his face and suppressed a smile.

"Before we start though, I want you to set twenty clones to tree climbing. We shall be doing this all afternoon, or until you run low on chakra. If you do not get hit once you may wear orange tomorrow."

There's not a chance in hell he will be wearing that hideous orange thing tomorrow if I can help it.

"Now, start dodging."

Watching Naruto-san's continual determination has finally made up my mind. I shall request Naruto-san as my apprentice. Hatake-san has had his chance with this excellent student, and has thrown that chance away. If Hokage-sama refuses to break up team seven, I shall train Naruto-san in my spare time for as long as I can, or until he surpasses me. I doubt Hokage-sama will have a problem with this, those in a clan get training outside of their team training after all.

**Replies:**

**SuzyQ**: Ebisu is considering telling the Hokage and probably will in the future, but at the moment he's more concerned with training Naruto.

**KC**: I will continue to have chapters showing the different perspectives of the same scene, but with smaller amounts of overlap. As to the length of the story, I'm planning to end it at the chunnin exam finals or very shortly afterwards. With Jiraiya and Kakashi, you shall have to wait and see (although I'm considering writing a one-shot about Kakashi as a sort of sequal to this when I'm done).

**L. Huss**: I'm glad you like this story, I tried not to go for the ever dramatic 'everyone horribly physically and mentally abused Naruto' cliché, mainly as I don't think the Hokage would let anything other than very mild physical abuse happen, something he couldn't stop. Although mental abuse is harder to prevent, if it were severe enough I'm sure he would jail people. Yes, Kakashi is awful in this, and Ebisu is angry with him, but also happily jumping at the opportunity presented to him.

**CW**: I'm glad you like this story so much, I agree that Ebisu is not used enough and I like him as he quickly sees the error of his actions towards Naruto in canon. I'll try to get the chapters out as soon as I can, I hope this chapter came out soon enough for your tastes! I wrote about Kakashi and what I will probably do with him in my replies above this one, and I totally agree with your opinion of him.

**MMZ:** Yes, I always thought reading porn in front of twelve year olds was slightly creepy. Yes, Ebisu does seem to like Naruto, and he has to be an excellent teacher (what with his teaching the Hokage's grandson). I'm glad you like this story.

**Jing:** I'm glad you like it.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: Nothing of 'Naruto' is mine, if it was I would be rich, but it's not so I'm not._

_A/N: I must apologise for the delay, but it wasn't my fault.....there were wolves._

_Again, thanks for the reviews, I hope I replied to everyone's and think I might have replied to some people twice! I just can't keep track of who I've responded to and who I haven't._

_This is a little short, but I hope better than nothing!_

**Chapter Five**

**Naruto POV:**

I arrived the next morning to training. I swear I hurt even more than the day before, but I couldn't help strutting my victory in all my orange glory. Ha! Closet-pervert didn't hit me once yesterday. My awesome-ness is limitless! I know Ebisu-sensei hates my jumpsuit, (nasty orange hater that he is), but he kept his promise and let me wear it, though he looked like something crawled up his ass and died as he said it. Kinda like the teme looks every day-heh!

Yesterday was really cool, I mean I was really embarrassed when the closet-pervert found out I'm not the best at reading, but he didn't say anything. Kami, the teme would never have stopped laughing at me, and I know Sakura-chan would have told Ino because they tell each other everything, and Ino never keeps quiet about anything. I remember Kiba once telling Shikamaru that he had gotten fleas, and Ino had heard them talking and had told everyone. Kiba had been so embarrassed and angry, I've never seen anyone turn that weird shade of red, in fact he still doesn't really talk to her.

I'm a bit jealous of her though and it actually pisses me off a little, I would have loved to have a really cool friend that stuck up for me. I know I'd never lose them or let them do something so stupid like fight with me over a stuck-up-his-own-ass, moody, arrogant, smirking teme.

Iruka-sensei was cool when I whispered to him at lunch that I couldn't read, well I mean it took me ages to say it, and I never really actually said I couldn't read, but iruka-sensei totally got it-he's awesome that way. Although he actually seemed really surprised and a bit upset, told me he was ashamed of himself for letting me down and failing as a teacher. He promised not to tell a soul and to come over every evening until the finals to help me learn, and a few evenings a week until I could read perfectly. He even said he'll bring me ramen from Ichiraku's every time. Honestly I wouldn't have skived off the academy classes half the time if he used ramen as a bribe, I mean yeah I love ramen...but those classes about some old boring dead guy were _so_ boring.

I think the closet-pervert is almost as cool as Iruka-sensei, I like Iruka-sensei more but he's so boring when he starts lecturing, but Ebisu-sensei keeps things exciting and I like that he explained his reasons for each exercise, and what he was trying to teach me, what I should be aiming to do.

He even made his lectures interesting....well mostly.

I swear pervert-sensei was getting more and more angry every time he missed me in the dodging practise. Ha! I've been dodging stuff that's been thrown at me since before I can remember. Yeah, it was harder to dodge the kunai he threw at me, but he really should've picked another challenge if he thought he could defeat the great Uzumaki Naruto and his orange awesomeness!

I couldn't sleep very well after iruka-sensei left, my body was so tired but my mind was full of kanji and I finally fell asleep thinking about the kwarimi jutsu. Sensei made a good point about the kwarimi jutsu, if they can't hit you, they can't hurt you, but you can hit them and then you win! I'm going to be the best at using the kwarimi jutsu ever.

Water walking didn't take me too long to learn, well it would have taken less time if sensei didn't make me use the twisty string thingy again to improve the dexterity of my fingers. Iruka-sensei told me what dexterity meant, bet the teme doesn't know. Although the closet-pervert told me I would have to run a lap around the clearing for every time I fell in. I had to run many laps.

First though we sparred on the water, which took a lot of concentration and I kept sinking in, which made dodging his punches and kicks really difficult.

Sensei seemed pleased though, and gave me a bento he made and I've gotta say that man can cook! He actually blushed when I told him so, it was so funny!

Running the laps around the clearing didn't take too long, mainly because sensei made me sprint them, and dodge the blunt kunai he threw at me, while making me run through hand signs. Even I can admit that I wasn't the best at all three, I could dodge and run, but my fingers were sore from the dexterity exercises before and I had trouble concentrating on all three activities at the same time.

He left me to have twenty clones doing the water walking, but didn't say anything when I had another five look over the kanji Iruka-sensei thought me last night.

I know I'm not the smartest genin in Konoha, I think that lazy ass Shikamaru is, but I'm the most stubborn. Before this month is out I'll be able to read everything perfectly, I'll be the best damn reader in Konoha.

After the laps the closet pervert decided I needed to learn how to dispel gen-jutsu. This didn't go so well. I mean how am I supposed to stop all the chakra flow in my body for a second? I tried for ages and I felt really frustrated (another word iruka-sensei taught me) that I couldn't do it. I even yelled at pervert-sensei, but all he did was give me one of his short and oddly useful lectures.

"Naruto-san, this does not seem to be working-"

"No dammit, I won't give up." the blond shinobi interjected,

"Relax Naruto-san, we are not going to give up. Identifying and dispelling gen-jutsu is essential to every ninja. No, we are just going to approach this issue in a different manner." Ebisu said calmly.

"In fact I believe the problems you are having stem from your large chakra reserves, that and your, ah, tenant, may be an issue in this case." Ebisu stated delicately

"Damn freaking fox...it always ruins everything!" Naruto burst out

"I can think of a solution to this problem, but I must confirm the particulars with someone first. For now though, we shall move on." Ebisu finished.

I still felt really annoyed though, something Ebisu-sensei seemed to catch on to.

"The next drill will require you to be calm. Perhaps I shall teach you how to meditate, but until I do so I think physical exercise shall help calm you down. It is a good time to continue body conditioning." Ebisu stated calmly, and ignored Naruto's moue of distaste.

"We shall start with fifty five sit-ups hanging upside down from a tree. Once you have finished that you shall do fifty push-ups and so on. Basically the conditioning routine we ran through yesterday, but with five extra to each set." Ebisu said all this with a faint sadistic grin twitching the corners of his lips.

"Your clones have been performing for a while. It is time you dispersed them every few minutes. Once you have done so, we shall begin to further your mind. After all, the strongest ninja may be easily defeated by a much physically weaker, but smarter foe. That is something many ninja forget."

This was all said in a really solemn tone. He seemed really serious about this, and I suppose he hasn't been wrong yet.

"Furthermore, those selecting chunnin do not just look for physical strength. Higher ranked chunnins often lead missions, and your team mates will depend upon you to plan the mission, and think up a strategy if anything goes wrong."

I can't believe I never realised that I got memories from my clones, though I suppose I only really used them in battle and they were both so short lived and dispelled so quickly one after the other, that I wouldn't realise I was seeing the battle from different angles.

I just collapsed after Ebisu-sensei's 'conditioning'. I swear he's getting some kind of sick pleasure out of seeing me so tired I can barely move. Bastard.

Times like this I want to see how funny he would find it if I harem-jutsu'd his ass, but then I realise whatever he thinks up as punishment wouldn't be worth it. Freaking evil sensei. He is smart though. Kinda reminds me of Iruka-sensei with his willingness to explain things to me. Hokage-jiji used to do it too, but he never really had time to explain much, or teach me anything. When I became a genin, he did it even less, though I suppose that's my fault. I've stopped pulling major proanks, so I don't get dragged to see him anymore.

I should probably see Jiji soon. Show him how much better I've gotten. Bet he'd be surprised....especially if I don't wear orange.

Training me 'frankly extraordinary senses' was a bit freaky. I had to let my guard down so much. Sensei told me I relied too much on my sight, something civilians do and lower level ninja. The others apparently use all their senses.

I must admit, I was nervous when he put the blindfold on and stuffed my nose. Pervert-sensei threw a rock somewhere in the clearing, and I had to kwarimi to as close to it as I could. He made sure there were plenty of logs around the clearing I could use. I don't think I was very good at it, even though we did it for hours until I felt that my chakra levels were getting pretty damn low. Ebisu-sensei never let me take the blind fold off to check how close I got, I couldn't even tell if he was impressed or not.

He has one of the best 'ninja faces', I've ever seen. I'm usually pretty good at guessing what people are thinking, (not counting that stupid traitor Mizuki-sensei....but I was in a really bad mood that day so it doesn't count). Kakashi also doesn't count, the stupid pervert is always wearing a mask and doing those annoying pervert giggles, but Ebisu-sensei has a really good expressionless face. I wonder if he can teach me how to do his 'serious ninja face', I bet Sakura would like it, it's nothing like the teme's stupid 'I smell something awful...oh wait it's you useless peasants' face.

The stars were out by the time we were finished and I don't think I've ever been so tired, but I bet Iruka-sensei is going to be impressed with how well I've remembered the kanji he thought me last night. The kage bunshin jutsu rocks way more than any stupid fire jutsu.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Ebisu POV:**

I keep trying to simultaneously push as many tasks on Naruto-san as possible, he desperately needs to learnt to multi-task, and although he is progressing at a frankly astonishing rate, it still is not quite fast enough. It is a tricky task though, driving him hard enough to ensure as much progress as possible in the month we have allotted to us, and not pushing him too hard. I fear if he finds himself failing the tasks I set him again and again, he will give up on myself as a teacher and quite probably lose a great deal of his already diminished and delicate self-confidence.

He is such a fragile child; his brash front conceals more than I thought it did. His never-give-up attitude just screams of his fear of always being a failure, the dead-last of his class, continually shunned and mocked by his peers. I did not realise it was quite so bad.

On the other hand, one of the bright points of the training yesterday was his reaction to the lunch I made for him. Naruto-san looked so surprised when I gave him the bento I had prepared. I knew he would rush off to eat ramen again if he had the chance and I blame his obsession with a food with such a low nutritional value for his diminutive height; although I do know a few friendly medic-nin who would be willing to give him a health check.

Nonetheless, I was expecting a different reaction from him after the initial surprise, there was that squinting look of suspicion. That I knew would happen, Naruto-san is far too jaded and street wise to accept feely given food from a stranger, I was surprised and delighted by the trust and appreciation he showed in actually eating the whole bento, and not claiming he was full after only a few bites.

It seems that he is beginning to accept me, perhaps not yet as a sensei, or even an ally, but from his actions I can surmise that I am no longer seen as a threat. I was so flattered by this, I think I blushed.

The pre-dawn light bouncing off his neon orange jumpsuit made it glow, and it appeared as close to looking smug as clothes can get. I growled internally though internally impressed by how well Naruto-san can dodge and how ferverent his love for that hideous excuse for clothing is.

After setting his twenty shadow clones to practising water walking and ignoring the additional five he made to practise his kanji, I decided to concentrate on conditioning first. As long as he does not create more than five clones to reading for no more than two hours a go, I shall continue to ignore their presence.

There are certain topics I did not want to broach until I had a level of trust with Naruto, mainly because he would have heard of some of them in the academy, and as with most theory from the academy, he had developed such a strong aversion to them as to be called a mental block. I did not want to introduce these topics to Naruto-san until I was sure he would not abandon his training with me, deeming them boring and pointless, and painting me in the same light as the less desirable shinobi instructors of the academy.

The new topic to introduce today, and one I did not think I would be mentioning until at least two to two and a half weeks had passed was strategy. Basic strategy skills are a must, in fact it is what the chunnin examiners are looking when choosing genin to promote. And so again with the multi-tasking I decided to lay out scenarios to Naruto-san as he worked on body conditioning and encourage him to provide a solution and suitable reasons for his choices.

"Naruto-san, as I mentioned yesterday, it is important for a shinobi to be able to plan a mission. Chunnin rank is a large step up from genin in terms of not only skill, but of responsibility. You are no longer on a fixed team and no longer have a jonin sensei to teach you, it is your responsibility to advance from then on. On the other hand, many of jonin rank dislike teaching genin basic skills but are most willing to teach their specialisation to a promising chunnin."

Naruto looked sour at the prospect of anyone willingly teaching him. Clearly he did not know of the favourable mindset of a number of jonin towards him.

"Bet Kakashi'll teach the teme, probably Sakura-chan too." Naruto muttered.

I could not help but agree. If Naruto-san became a chunnin it was far more likely I would be officially given the title of his permanent sensei.

"Perhaps" I conceded reluctantly. I decided not to broach the subject of myself as my apprentice once he became a chunnin. While yesterday's lunch episode was definitely a step in the right direction, we still had a long way to go before he would believe me willing to train him of my own free will, not as a favour to his somewhat errant sensei.

"That was not what I wished to talk about though. I'm sure the academy mentioned the importance of strategy to a ninja?" I asked.

Naruto-san immediately adopted his ridiculous looking thinking pose.

"Yeah maybe, I dunno. It was really boring. I'm way better than that now though. Dattebayo!" He finished defiantly.

"Indeed. You have improved greatly since the academy, mainly in the last few days. None the less, many of the topics introduced in the academy are important to the future life of a shinobi. Strategy is key."

He squirmed slightly and I did not want to emphasise his academic failings as so many seemed to do.

"As you work your way through your usual set of body conditioning exercises, I shall present a number of different situations a shinobi might find themselves in. You shall tell me what you would do and why." I said in as neutral a tone as I could manage.

He immediately looked mildly panicked.

"This is not a test; there is no way to fail. I just want to assess your strategic skills." I continued.

"Hey I asked Iruka-sensei a whole bunch of words last night, 'assess' does mean test." Naruto-san burst out.

"It does and it doesn't. I merely want to measure your ability to deal with an awkward situation, and present to you possible solutions if you cannot."

There was a long pause, where Naruto-san seemed to judge me through his jaded and weary eyes. I repressed a shiver. Such a look should not be present in the eyes of a young genin.

"Ah yes, and don't forget to add another fifty push-ups to your routine. You did say 'dattebayo'."

"Dammit!"

And with that the tension was gone.

Within an hour I was resisting the urge to clutch my head in despair. Naruto-san seems to be the worst strategist in the history of ninja, his idea of a plan is to rush in headfirst and see what happens. It's a wonder he hasn't been killed in any altercations with enemy ninja. He did listen to my reasons why charging in headfirst is deadly in most situations, but there was an air of boredom and scepticism about him. None of my reason seemed to be getting through to him. With a sigh I realised I would have to do this the hard way.

"Naruto-san, you are not listening to me."

"Yeah I am.... I totally am!" he exclaimed

"You do not believe me though." I pointed out.

"I do..." he said, as full of conviction as he could manage, which was not much.

"No you don't, it seems we shall have to do this the hard way." I sighed.

I could see the apprehension in his eyes and the tension flood into his body.

"We shall take a break here. You have only the extra fifty push-ups to do." I straightened from my position sitting near him and created ten misu bunshins.

I could see that Naruto's fight or flight response was about to kick in and secretly cursed the majority of Konoha residents for the first time.

It took me by surprise. I had never been the type to rail at the world, nor did I become attached easily, but Naruto and his difficult situation seemed to be changing me more than I thought it had. Unknowingly I suppose they had given a few advantages over other ninja of his rank, his ability to dodge projectiles was second to none, and he had a finely developed response to potentially dangerous situations. The handicaps they gave him in terms of his development as both a ninja and as a person far outweighed whose advantages though.

I henged then ten clones into black faced and generic looking men, each wearing an outfit consisting of predominantly one colour.

"The clone wearing orange represents you; the other nine represent the enemy ninja. I want you to climb that tree over there to get a better view of what is about to happen, but first slowly dispel you bunshin." I said, ignoring his hidden relief.

An advantage of misu bunshin is the telepathic link the creator has to them, making them perfect for use as a demonstrative tool. Something I saw myself capitalising on often in my tutelage of my exuberant blond clad student and I envisioned many evenings spent on the verge of chakra exhaustion.

"Now Naruto-san, watch closely." I said as I had the orange wearing clone charge in recklessly as he had suggested.

He winced slightly as the clone was brutally slaughtered.

"This is why it is unwise to rush in to a situation head first. Above all a ninja is stealthy, and should ensure they defeat their foes with as little harm to themselves and using the smallest amount of chakra as is possible. You never know when you are going to be attacked, and must be ready at all times. If you are injured or low on chakra you are an easy target, but if you are stealthy you can get in and out without the enemy ever realising you were there." As I gave this speech, I had a new orange wearing clone sneak up on the others and swiftly dispatch them.

"That was..... SO COOL!" Naruto-san exclaimed.

I smiled slightly, pleased with his response.

"Being a ninja is not about flashy jutsu, often times the simplest tools, such as the lowly kunai and the good use of a ninja's surrounding environment is far better suited for a situation than a hail of fire and explosions."

I could see the scepticism on his face, but knew there was nothing I could do to change his mind. He was still only a boy and had little combat experience, to most genin and new chunnin showy jutsu were the solution to everything. I hoped that if I kept showing Naruto situations where the clever use of simple tools was better than the over-dramatic actions of mediocre ninja, I could eventually convince him I was right. Until then I had to ensure his basics were flawless, and that he knew many useful jutsu but few flashy ones.

I tossed him up an apple to munch on, and made a note to visit a med-nin tonight to work out a proper nutritional plan for Naruto-san.

I summoned another nine misu bunshin and told Naruto-san that a white dot indicated a kill, as I did not have the chakra to keep creating bunshin. I had a mission this evening after all.

After a few more test runs, and still little improvement I decided to leave it for the day. There was still so much we had yet to do.

Again we sparred on the surface of the water, and I found there were fewer flaws to fix in his tai-jutsu than there were yesterday. I could see him becoming a tai-jutsu monster with his prodigious talent in this area, that and his high pain tolerance and ability to shake off potentially critical blows.

I would ensure he did not become too focused on nin-jutsu, something I could see Naruto-san easily slipping into a mastery of with his huge chakra reserves. He was the type to focus on one aspect of being a ninja with the exclusion of everything else, something many ninja found themselves doing, but the very best ninja were well rounded, and I knew Naruto-san had the potential to become the best of the best, not because of his prisoner, but because of his raw talent and determination. I would not let such a promising ninja fall into that trap, Naruto-san had the potential to master many different ninja abilities, and I knew he could easily surpass me.

After a break for lunch, which I again provided, I decided to focus on his gen-jutsu abilities, or lack thereof.

"Naruto-san, I was talking to a colleague of mine last night, a gen-jutsu specialist, and she agreed with me. It is likely you will never be able to dispel a gen-jutsu by stopping your internal chakra flow, you simply have too much."

His face fell slightly.

"This means a different tactic is necessary. A gen-jutsu can be dispelled using either physical pain, which probably will not work with the more powerful gen-jutsu, or with flaring your chakra. I would rather you learn the second technique, which is uncommonly used by ninja as it is slightly chakra wasteful, but you have plenty of chakra and so you should not find it a problem. It also has the added benefit of dissolving the gen-jutsu for those on your team."

"Yatta! I am awesome again." He burst out, and I'm sure would have bounced around the clearing if he were not so physically tired.

"Indeed." I said drily.

"Again control is necessary, but the level of control you have gained with both your tree and water walking is enough for now." I continued.

"What dya mean for now? Why don't I just keep going? You were saying earlier I shouldn't waste chakra." He said.

"Yes, you should endeavour not to waste chakra, and while a chakra burst is inherently wasteful and further control would be beneficial to minimise waste, we simply do not have the time to focus further on chakra control."

"Uh-huh." Was all Naruto-san said.

Although his response was not encouraging, I decided to get Naruto used to the idea of my continuing to teach him after the chunnin exams.

"Perhaps after the exams I can show you more chakra control techniques." I said blandly.

He just looked at me doubtfully but said nothing.

His chakra bursts were very large and wasteful, far more than I thought they would be, but with proper mastery of the water walking technique this would decrease. He was progressing well in that respect, and was on his third set of twenty clones practising water walking today.

I decided to leave the chakra bursts until his control had improved; it is unlikely he would face any gen-jutsu masters in the finals, at least none proficient enough to negate all of his extraordinary senses.

Yesterday I had set a far too difficult test for him in terms of substituting himself. Instead, this time I prepared the grounds. I set out a large circular clock-like perimeter with twelve piles of logs set at regular intervals and got his to lie down in the centre. Again he could only use his hearing to locate which pile of logs I hit with a stone and substitute himself with one of the logs from the pile.

It was long past sunset when we finished this drill, and I could see even his high chakra reserves were running low. He did not perform as well as I thought he would have, although I believe that may have been due to his poor observational skills, it seems he had not firmly fixed the location of the log piles within his mind before I put the blindfold on. Nonetheless, once he had created a rough map within his mind, he improved quite rapidly.

After another short tai-jutsu spar, on land this time and more a warm down than anything else, I sent him home. The moonlight washing out his usual vibrant colours and making him look quite pathetic as he stumbled home exhausted to an evening of mental training.

With a sigh I dragged myself off for my mission; I had only a few hours and much to do before tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

_AN: Apologies for the very late update but the writer's block is mostly gone. I am still looking for a beta, sadly the rush of offers was not exactly overwhelming!_

Chapter 7

Naruto POV

I've gotta say reading is way harder than I thought it would be. I mean all those little kids are running around reading all the time. Iruka-sensei keeps telling me that I 'have to get into the habit of using my brain for more than choosing the next ramen flavour', and that I'm 'just not used to this kind of work', but it's so frustrating! Thank you Iruka-sensei for using the dictionary to help 'broaden my woeful vocabulary'. I know Iruka-sensei is being totally awesome and helping me, but Kami his lectures are so incredibly boring. I have to concentrate all the damn time because he's actually taking all this time to help me and every ninja worth anything is able to read, but I hear those lectures days later in my head, still in his boring lecture voice.

Closet-pervert-sensei was telling me that some of the topics in the academy were 'important to my development as a ninja' and would 'help me make informed decisions in a aprticaular situation.' I think he was just saying that though, I mean, who cares why some country fought another? Or what country makes what?

Iruka-sensei told me that I would be using my old academy texts to help my reading as they were 'the most readily available texts.' This made me wonder if Ibisu-pervert said anything to him or if he was just taking the opportunity to ram the boring information into my head when I had no way of escaping. Cunning sensei, very cunning, but I'm onto you!

He actually made me read it and then asked me what I thought about what I had just read- ugh I swear my brain was melting! Doesn't matter though, Iruka-sensei said I was learning extremely quickly and that my reasoning was mostly sound-ha!

I was so tired after yesterdays training that I actually fell asleep in the middle of my lesson, or at least I don't remember Iruka-sensei going, but I woke up in my bed this morning. He even left a note telling me what he wanted read today and to note the words I had problems with using a dot over them.

I had the best idea ever on my way to training this morning. Ebisu-pervert-sensei is always going on about a ninja multi tasking, so, when I started some clones water walking because pervert-sensei wasn't here yet, I got them to use chakra to stick leaves to their foreheads at the same time.

I think I'm really getting water walking. It's so cool! It's not as fun as tai-jutsu, but it's kinda relaxing just lying on the top of the water. Ebisu-pervert said we might start meditation soon which seems really boring, but if we do I'm going to suggest we do it on the water.

Ebisu-sensei gave my clones on the water a really funny look when he arrived, but he didn't say anything about them, or about the clones reading under the trees.

"As I told you yesterday, your dodging skills are quite good, although you use far too much energy. I have decided to add a few basic exercise to your conditioning scheme to improve your flexibility. This will help both your tai-jutsu and help you conserve energy when you dodge." Ebisu-sensei told me.

"The aim of a ninja is to get the best results using the least amount of energy. A ninja has to not only be able to swiftly complete their mission, but also be able to return home in the best shape possible. A good ninja should not be hospitalised after every mission." He said in his lecturing-voice.

I suppose this made sense, if you're always in the hospital after missions you won't have enough time to train or you'll have to cut back on missions. Less missions means less money, less money means less ramen.

I nodded, it seems Ebisu-sensei is onto something.

"Furthermore, a ninja should always be thinking ahead. When you dodge, you should only move just enough to avoid the fist or projectile, but also dodge in such a way as to move yourself into the next position you want to be in." He continued.

Yeah, and then punch them in the face!

"We will not be running any more drills with you avoiding projectiles. You have shown yourself more than sufficiently skilled for a prospective chunnin a few days ago. I am not telling you to stop running drills yourself, but as I have already said, time is short and I have much still to teach you, so I leave this up to you. I know you will not let me down." Ebisu-pervert-sensei said in a firm tone.

I know it's stupid, but I felt a warm feeling inside when he said this. He's the only person who has ever said that he knows I won't let him down and seems to really mean it.

Old-mad Hokage always says he believes me when I say I'll be the next Hokage, but he's always smiling or laughing a bit when he says it. It's like he almost believes it, but not completely.

It's only something small, believing I won't slack off training myself, but it means something important to me. Perhaps he's beginning to acknowledge me too.

I looked away and smiled a little at that.

Ebisu-sensei cleared his throat and continued after a slight pause. "We shall begin with your usual conditioning exercises, and once you have finished one set of those I shall show you your new stretches."

After my new exercises, and with my fingers again a little sore from my dexterity exercises, I dispelled my clones to give us more room to spar on the lake. I could feel the slightest difference in my chakra control already, I had to concentrate just a little less to stay on the lake. Strangely we only had a short spar and Ebisu-pervert had a really weird look on his face after we finished sparring.

"Although your spars in the chunnin finals will be one-on-one and have you both on the most even footing as possible to begin with, in life that rarely if ever happens." Pervert-sensei began once I had summoned a few more clones to master water walking with leaves on their heads.

He then summoned two water clones and ushered me off the lake. Those clones are super awesome, not as awesome as shadow clones but pretty awesome none-the-less. I can't communicate with my clones like he can with his, but then his can't do stuff and get the memory in his brain when the clone is done.

I wondered if I could get him to teach me them, and thought about whining, but closet-pervert doesn't look like the type it would work on, (not that it has ever worked on anyone before), and he teaches Konohomaru who has to be the biggest whiney brat ever. I bet he's all whine-d out! Maybe the harem-jutsu would work on him. Heh, I bet if I whined when I was using the harem-jutsu it would totally work- Uzumaki Naruto multi-tasking ninja extraordinaire!

I looked at his super-serious as always face and shivered slightly. Underneath that boring looking facade lurked an evil torture expert. So not worth the pain.

Hmm, facade. I like that word. I think I'll work it into a sentence with Iruka-sensei tonight and see his face! Thank you clone left in the apartment to flick through the dictionary that burst at just the right time.

"I would like you to spar with my clones, full contact, I need to further observe your form."He said.

"Bet you would you closet pervert." I muttered, and saw his eyebrow twitch in response.

"You may begin."

His clone immediately punched me in the nose, I swear he told hit that hard on purpose. Bastard.

The spar didn't last very long before he won.

"Again." He barked out.

I never lasted very long, although I know he was going much slower than he usually would and was pulling his punches a bit, a little, or not very much. Kami I forgot how hard he hit!

Every time he won, I had a few seconds rest before he said 'again' in that snippy tone. He kept changing things like adding a third clone, or having me fight only one, or forcing me to move to the wooded part of the training grounds and fighting me there, he even had me sparring against him in the trees.

By the time we stopped I was panting and sweating and could barely stay standing, but it had been so much fun!

He opened his mouth as I began to run through my warm down and I hoped to Kami we weren't going to run through boring strategy scenarios again.

"Your tai-jutsu has dramatically improved from when we first began. There are still hesitations and errors there, but these are expected and will be there for some time to come, only continual intensive practise over the long run will smooth these out." He said with a frown still on his face.

Ugh, it's not my fault. I mean I feel much more balanced in the stances, but I still have to concentrate to punch exactly right. I really tried in the academy, but Mizuki-sensei never gave me tips or adjusted my movements as we went through katas like he did with the others.

"I have recently been sparring with you on the water to help improve your chakra control, but have been neglecting a key part of your training.

For a ninja to succeed in their mission, be it a spying mission or a defeating an enemy nin, it is essential that they use the terrain around them to their advantage." He stated in his most solemn tone yet.

Ok, so maybe he wasn't frowning because of my crappy tai-jutsu.

"Can you give me examples of this in use perhaps?" He asked.

"Um, if you're trying to speak up on someone in an open field you don't just walk up to them 'cos you'll totally stand out, you crawl really low to the ground?" I answered.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" He replied.

"Telling you. Dattebayo!" I stated.

Crap, fifty extra push-ups. Ok, ok, maybe if you say nothing he won't notice. Act casual.

"Yes, that is an adequate example." He replied with a slight smirk now on his face.

Dammit, he noticed. I sighed as I started on the extra push-ups without being asked. Stupid freaking sadist.

"I would like an example of an action that you used from the spars we just had." He finished.

"How about.....when we were in the trees and I swung around that tree branch and then nearly hit you in the face with it. Heh, heh, heh."

"Yes, that is a good example. It seems as though you make up for your abysmal strategic skills with good tactical skills."He said.

So I'm guessing 'abysmal' is something bad.

"How can I be good at tactics but bad at strategy. Aren't they the same thing?" I asked.

"No, no they are not. A strategy is a long term plan, tactics are short term. It seems you are naturally skilled in adapting to different situations, an enviable skill, and something that takes many ninja years to learn." He replied.

Oh yeah, Uzumaki Naruto is just that effortlessly awesome. Take that Sasuke-bastard!

"This is particularly good, it is said that a plan does not survive its first encounter with the enemy. A good leader is able to come up with a first-rate plan, but also must be able to adapt it as necessary. It seems you are half way there." He finished with a small smile on his face.

"Yatta!"

"I said half way. You still rush in like a moron half the time." He stated.

I pouted and reluctantly thought back to team training. I suppose Sasuke-teme does generally flatten me in spars, maybe, and he may possibly, sometimes, almost always wait for me to rush in and then beat me. Bet he knows about this strategy-stuff already. Bastard is still so far ahead of me.

I only realised I was clenching my fists so hard they hurt, when Ebisu-sensei spoke again.

"Really, having the innate ability to adapt is a far greater gift than that of a strategist, unless they are a genius who thinks with lightening speed. Strategy can be learned and developed over time, many ninja do not live long enough to develop the ability to swiftly adapt to all situations." He smiled at me again.

"Now, lunchtime." He said as he handed me a bento box.

I looked inside and repressed a sigh. No ramen. I didn't say anything though, I've never had someone prepare meals for me before, it's actually kinda nice. We ate our lunches in silence on the lake and I periodically dispelled my clones reading and practising water walking.

I gazed sadly down on my clothes. Non-orange. Ebisu-sensei had won yesterday.

As punishment for the 'dattebayo' I said yesterday I had to do the fifty push-ups on the water without sinking in the slightest. It didn't work so well, and I kept getting water up my nose. Stupid closet pervert kept sniggering, and today I swear he kept smirking at my clothes all through the day.

One thing I really like about training with Ebisu-sensei is that he makes training fun. I don't know why Konohomaru keeps running away from him. I mean sure his lectures are occasionally boring, and he can be quite sadistic, but drills are always exciting. Konohomaru is going to die of boredom in the academy!

After lunch Ebisu-sensei decided I needed to up the speed of my replacement jutsu and I totally agreed with him. I'm going to be so damn fast at it that no-one will ever be able to hit me!

Uzumaki Naruto, the un-hittable Hokage! I like it. I like it a lot.

So Ebisu-pervert's tactic was to throw water balloons at me, ninja-style, and I could only avoid them using the replacement jutsu. He even tied my legs together and my upper arms to my sides.

It was really hard at the beginning 'cos I kept falling over being all tied up and un-balanced, but all Ebisu-sensei said was that I had to choose where I went carefully then.

He even had the indecency to hit me with a water balloon as I was falling out of a tree. Evil I tell you!

I gotta say that it's fun for a while, but after getting hit in the face with a water balloon thrown really, really hard hurts like a bitch, and you tend to take it a lot more seriously after that!

We finished off the day practising my hearing again. Pervert-sensei had a whole bunch of glasses filled with different amounts of water so they sounded different when they were tapped.

Each sound matched to a different hand sign, and I had to do the right hand sign immediately after he tapped the glass.

If I got it wrong he flicked a pebble at me, if I took too long he flicked a pebble at me and if the hand sign was even the tiniest bit sloppy flicked a pebble at me.

I went home covered in loads of tiny lumps.


	8. Chapter 8

_AN: Not dead...clearly! Just a little guilty- I have become that which I hate- the author who disappears without finishing the story or officially going on hiatus! Hopefully I'm back for good_

**Chapter 8**

Ebisu POV

My surveillance mission last night went so badly I was ashamed, I spent most of the night planning training for Naruto-san, and did not keep nearly enough attention to my surroundings.

I do not think my partner noticed, but I resolved to do better next time. An elite-shinobi does not make such simple mistakes. How can I lecture Naruto about the importance of every mission, even the boring ones, if I do not myself conduct them to the very best of my abilities?

I was most surprised to see Jiraiya of the legendary sannin clearly waiting for us at our training grounds. Perhaps he wished to check on Naruto's seal?

Ah, it seems that may be the case. There seem to be few things other than the kyuubi that make Naruto-san scowl so. Although I must say I didn't expect such a revered figure to be engaged in a childish scowling-staring contest with a child.

"Good morning Jiraiya-sama. Uzumaki-san and I are honoured by your presence. May we be of assistance to you in some way." He may be acting strangely, but it is only right that we respect such a worthy ninja.

"Yes, you can. Uzukoki or whatever his name is was being a nuisance."

This is not my day. I haven't even had any sleep yet and I have to stand up to a sannin. Perhaps it is punishment for the way I callously disregarded Naruto-san in the past. I repressed a sigh. Odd though that he was pretending he didn't know Naruto-san's name. Clearly for the child's benefit, but why?

"I see. And what has he done that has inconvenienced you?" I tried to sound as neutral as I could, but this situation would not have happened if our training ground had not been invaded. Training grounds are clearly marked off, sannin or no it is the height of rudeness to invade one currently in use.

"He interrupted my research. And he's rude."

Rude, very likely, but also likely deserved. I find that I have less and less patience for those that disparage Naruto-san and expect all around them to nod in agreement, or at least stay quiet. He is an excellent shinobi, and I will not have his name smeared due to ignorance or misguided hate. Luckily this is becoming less and less frequent recently.

"I must apologise for my student. But in my experience, Naruto-san is rarely rude first"

There was a flash of approval in the older ninja's eyes.

"He insulted my greatest work, other than training the fourth hokage of course. The peerless, incomparable Icha-Icha series!"

Suddenly there was a very familiar book speeding towards my face.

_So fast...truly a legendary ninja._

Then blackness.

_AN: A short one, next chapter (usual length) will be up next week_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Naruto POV

So I was feeling all fired up the next morning, I may not be wearing orange, I may not have eaten ramen in far too long, but dammit I was not going to get flicked with pebbles again, awesome shinobi weren't covered in loads of tiny bruises 'cos of tiny stones. I mean if it was one giant bruise cause I stopped a boulder running over a town or something that would be cool, but that's different.

But when I get to my training ground I heard a stupid weird little giggle and there was this creepy old man being completely perverted and gross. He kept saying things like "yeah, yeah wash her back for her", and "oh, you are naughty aren't you?". Iruka-sensei says I'm not allowed to become a pervert

But girls are scary, except for Sakura-chan who is awesome...and sometimes a bit scary too.

"Oi, you. Pervert! Get your own tracing ground to be perverted in." I yelled. I swear my eyebrow was twitching I was so annoyed.

Dammit I wanted to get some extra practise in before the closet-pervert arrived. The exams are really soon, and if I'm going to beat that asshole Neji I have to be way better than I am now.

I'm beginning to think that I'm really not all that good at being a ninja, yet that is. The more I learn, the more I realise there's so much more I have to learn. I'm way better than I was before the start of the chunnin exams. I bet I could kick Sasuke-asshole's ass, unless he's also getting kick-ass training from Kakashi. I bet he is. I bet he's learning to do all sorts of awesome stuff. But I'll show them both, I'm a way better shinobi than Sasuke-asshole and then Sakura-chan will love me more than him. Probably.

"Who are you called pervert?" The weirdo yelled back, suddenly appearing in front of me before I could blink. Shit he was fast. I just pissed off a super strong and slightly familiar looking ninja. Shit, shit, shit- he must be famous or something. Quick bluff him. Bluff like you've never bluffed before.

"You, you fricking weirdo, if you want to be a creeper go to the hot springs or something- some of us are awesome shinobi who have training to do."

"I've been to the hot springs, and they are not enough to sate my love for the wonderful female form. The amazing Jairaiya, super-pervert and renowned author finds and appreciates the pretty ladies wherever they go."

"Super loser more likely. I bet every woman runs away when she sees you."

No lady runs from...Jairaya of the legendary sannin." He actually did a weird clicking dance on the head of a giant toad that had suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke. I am embarrassed for Konoha- even I know doing a hopping dance is just lame.

Wait, he's one of the sannin? I asked Ebisu-pervert what he knew about Orochimaru aka-creepy-mc-snakeface. He just told me he was a super powerful shinobi, one of the three great legendary sannin and that he was a traitor to Konoha. Then he told me that I had to find out the rest myself- he set me homework. Evil I tell you!

He must be really powerful then, way more powerful than Ebisu-sensei. I bet he knows loads of cool jutsu too...but he probably won't teach me any. But he might, and it would be awesome! But Ebisu-sensei has been a pretty cool teacher- I mean for a pervert, and he said he won't teach me any jutsu for ages. But he did say I had to earn them first, and I've learned loads of other stuff. This is tricky. I scowled at Jaraiya-pervert.

"Good morning Jairaya-sama. Uzumaki-san and I are honoured by your presence. May we be of assistance to you in some way."

"Yes, you can. Uzukoki or whatever his name is was being a nuisance."

I felt my heart sink. Stupid bloody lying sannin. Ebisu-sensei might send me away now. They always believe the other person.

"I see. And what has he done that has inconvenienced you?"

I suppose I could beg Old-Man-Hokage to find me another teacher. Wait, what?

"He interrupted my research. And he's rude."

"I must apologise for my student. But in my experience, Naruto-san is rarely rude first."

I, I have no idea what's going on. Am I supposed to find another teacher or not? Is Ebisu-sensei sticking up for me? No way!

I felt that warm feeling in my chest again, the one I got after Ebisu-sensei said I'd done well after training hard all day, or Iruka-sensei told me I was ready for the next book, but ten times stronger this time.

I had to look away.

"He insulted my greatest work, other than training the fourth hokage. The peerless, incomparable Icha-Icha series!"

And then he hit my sensei in the face with an oddly book so hard it knocked him out.

"You asshole! You knocked out my sensei! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Oops!"

Oops? Oops? That's all that absolute asshole could say?

"Don't worry he's mostly unharmed. He'll be fine tomorrow."

I felt so relieved. The guy may be a right ass, but he wouldn't be so calm if Ebisu-sensei were really hurt.

"Yeah, well now I'm going to have to bring him to the hospital." And miss a whole day of training. God, I am so telling Old-Man-Hokage on you. Let's see him get out of that.

"Now, now, no need to be hasty. How about I train you instead? I am the best you know, trained the fourth hokage myself- his only sensei. I though him everything I know."

"Yeah, and then he was way cooler than you. I bet he never accidently knocked out a Konoha ninja by smacking him in the face with a perverted book." I huffed.

"Perverted? This is not perverted...it's super perverted! We are legally obliged to sell nose-plugs with every book!" The creeper yelled with an odd shine in his eyes.

Right. Time to take sensei and run. Escape the weirdo now, while I still can.

I got sensei up on my shoulders and one step in the other direction before he grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"And where do you think you're going."

"Uh the hospital, I told you a minute ago. Man you're going senile as well as being creepy."

"I am not creepy nor am I old, I am mature. You'll understand when you're older. And really, there's no need to going running off to the Hokage. I'm about to let you learn the most awesome technique any ninja will ever learn...summoning."

"Don't care." I really just wanted to get sensei to the hospital.

"You little idiot! Do you even know what summoning is?" He yelled.

I hate being called an idiot. Also I know it has something to do with bringing something- so in his face! I gave him my best Ebisu-sensei you're-fooling-no-one-look.

"Still don't care." I said, but man Ebisu-pervert-sensei should kinda cut down on non-ramen foods.

"Clearly your pitiful little brain doesn't understand the magnitude of what I'm offering you. Behold!"

And then a giant toad appeared and ate Ebisu-sensei.

"What the hell did you just do?" I screamed

"I sent him to the hospital. I summoned a carrier toad. Much quicker than carrying him there. Now, to business." He got into a really stupid pose again, not as bad as the clicky-dance one, but pretty bad.

"In order to summon, you must first sign a summoning contract. A contract like this one" And he summoned another toad, one that vomited up a giant scroll.

Yeah, I'm not going near toad vomit.

"Just prick your finger and sign your name in blood right here."

"No way."

"What?" he almost screamed.

"Firstly you're not my sensei, Ebisu-sensei is. Second I don't trust you- you just threw a book at my real sense's face and knocked him out, then you had a toad eat him. And lastly, I'm not going near toad vomit."

He just looked at me with this stupid shocked look on his face, so I turned to go find Ebisu-sensei in the hospital.

"Your sensei would be angry with you for turning this down. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The last person to sign a summoning contract with the toads was the fourth hokage, he even rode Gamabunta the toad boss into battle against the kyuubi, and you're turning this down?"

"The kyuubi was supposed to be as tall as a mountain, the toads you summoned were only as big as a house. So nice try, but I don't believe you."

"That's because I didn't summon Gamabunta."

"Don't believe you." He is such a liar!

"Well I'll prove it to you then." He said and did a few handseals. Ok, maybe he was right. That is one big-ass toad.

"Jaraiya, why have you summoned me here? I was in the middle of dinner." He boomed.

"This little brat didn't believe that you had gone toe-to-toe with the kyuubi."

Such a tattle-tale.

"Who? Oh, you. Yes I did, one of the few summons to go against a bijuu and survive. That's where I got this scar over my eye."

That is a very big scar on a very big eye

"Ok, fine. I'll admit it. Toads are pretty damn cool." I reluctantly had to admit.

"So you'll sign then?" He had this oddly hopeful look.

"Nope." Ha, in his face! Like I wanted to be stuck around this weirdo.

"Like I want to be stuck around you!" I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Sorry Gamabunta, eh, sama. You are all sorts of awesome, but I have to go check on my sensei in the hospital. _Someone_ knocked him out. And then I have to go find someone to train me for the day- the chunnin finals are really, really soon."

"I see, little Naruto. Let me offer you a trainer for the day. I feel obliged to fix the mistake of my summoner." A toad with a twin set of swords appeared. The only thing more awesome than a giant toad, is a giant toad with loads of pointy weapons.

"Work well. Gamahiro is a master swords-toad, and his knowledge of chakra manipulation is excellent. Jaraiya and I have to go have a little chat. "

The pervert suddenly turned a nasty shade of greenish-white.

'Thanks Gamabunta-sama." I replied as sweetly as I could.

The pervert got even paler. Sweet, sweet revenge.

Eh, I'll deal with that when it happens. OH GOOD GOD- I've turned into Shikamaru...NNNNNNOOOO! Repeat as many times as possible "It's not troublesome."


End file.
